A September Day A Long Time Ago

It was a warm Wednesday in September, that day. The sun was warm even in those days, this is some years ago.

In the heat of the afternoon, I knew it was going to be a long day, it would probably go deep into the early hours of the Thursday. I was crouched over the low coffee table on the living room of our small college dorm.

The three of us had taken over the whole living room, including the 2 coffee tables and the chairs. And on the bigger coffeetable, the drawing sheets were laid out for us to work. There was actually 6 of us in the assignment group, but the one was a girl, and girls were not allowed into the guys dorm, and anyway, it’s not like she’s the type that can contribute much. The other two guys were too pooped to do much in the afternoons.

Over the next twelve hours from two in the afternoon, until after the two in the morning, the three of us work non-stop, with only 3-in-1 coffee and dry biscuits for company.

And my trusty red transistor radio.

Back in college, before the age of iPods, Winamp and Bittorent, (Discmans were still relatively new) radio was the ‘in’ thing. Especially when we had 8 FM stations blasting 24 hours of non-stop solid programmed radio.

I was the only one to stay through the 12 hours plus of the day and night (it was after all my dorm in the first place), and sometimes it was only me and the radio.

I remembered in that short time, they played Love Song For a Vampire and Ordinary World seven times each, once every two hours, plus one extra time during request hour. Among many other songs.

Ordinary World. I loved that song. It was so popular at that time, they played it to death on the radio. Right now, I can hear the strains of the opening verse in my head…

Came in from a rainy Thursday, on the avenue
thought I heard you talking softly

I turned on the lights, the TV, and the radio
still I can’t escape the ghost of you

What has happened to it all?
Crazy, some’d say
Where is the life that I recognize?
gone away